'Cannabis candidate' for Congress touts service as an FBI agent. He wasn't an FBI agent.

Benjamin Wolf, Democratic primary challenger in the 5th Congressional District, speaks at his headquarters March 6, 2018, in Chicago. His work history has come under scrutiny, with headlines identifying Wolf as a former FBI agent, which he said he never claimed. (Erin Hooley / Chicago Tribune)

Benjamin Wolf, Democratic primary challenger in the 5th Congressional District, speaks at his headquarters March 6, 2018, in Chicago. His work history has come under scrutiny, with headlines identifying Wolf as a former FBI agent, which he said he never claimed. (Erin Hooley / Chicago Tribune)

Benjamin Thomas Wolf’s congressional campaign office in Chicago’s Ukrainian Village neighborhood is adorned with framed news stories, touting his service in the FBI.

A Newsweek article features a portrait of Wolf holding a lit marijuana blunt and asks, “Who is Benjamin Thomas Wolf? Former FBI agent smokes weed in Illinois congressional campaign ad.” A Vice story declares, “This former FBI agent is running for Congress to legalize weed.” The Times of Israel says, “Jewish ex-FBI agent makes blunt bid for Congress.”

In a news release last week, the Wolf campaign identified him as a “former FBI agent.”

But the news release and articles got one detail wrong: Wolf was never an FBI agent.

A spokesperson for the FBI confirmed to the Tribune that Wolf served the agency as “a non-special agent professional support employee.” Wolf, one of two challengers in the Democratic primary trying to unseat Rep. Mike Quigley in Illinois’ 5th Congressional District, said this week that he failed the FBI’s agent test.

The Tribune found some other problems with the Wolf campaign’s assertions. He wrote an endorsement from a former associate to use in a campaign web page without the associate’s approval, Wolf told the Tribune. Although Wolf has never outright claimed to have served in the military, his campaign has used words and phrases that seem to imply he did, tweeting that Wolf “served multiple tours” in Iraq.

In interviews with the Tribune this week, Wolf said he has never identified himself as an FBI agent and downplayed the difference between his support role and an FBI agent. He also said he's never implied he served in the military, and when he's talked about being “overseas” or “on tour,” he was referring to his time with the State Department.

“People are caught up in minor details,” Wolf said. “I don’t care.”

Erin Hooley / Chicago Tribune

Vice and Newsweek headlines hang on the wall in the campaign headquarters of Democratic primary challenger in the 5th Congressional District Benjamin Wolf, on March 6, 2018, in Chicago.

Vice and Newsweek headlines hang on the wall in the campaign headquarters of Democratic primary challenger in the 5th Congressional District Benjamin Wolf, on March 6, 2018, in Chicago. (Erin Hooley / Chicago Tribune)

Wolf said the emphasis should be on the issues, particularly his focus on legalizing marijuana, which has earned him the nickname “cannabis candidate,” and on his years of service as a diplomatic security special agent for the State Department. The State Department confirmed Wolf was employed as a special agent until July 2013 but didn’t provide specifics about his assignments.

Wolf’s unorthodox campaign style and resume have drawn scrutiny.

Thomas O’Connor, president of the FBI agents union, said employees like Wolf are valuable workers who often do surveillance, but they’re not FBI agents.

Wolf’s duties as a nonagent support staff member don’t line up with some of the ways he’s being described in news articles or how he lists his former employment as a “national security advisor” on Facebook, O’Connor said.

“If someone was not an FBI agent, they should not claim to be an FBI agent,” O’Connor said.

‘Former FBI agent’

In an interview, Wolf said he is originally from Ohio and his public service interest intensified on an eighth-grade trip to Washington, D.C. He said he was standing on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial and looking at the reflecting pool and the buildings around him when he knew that’s where he wanted to be.

Wolf said he attended Kent State University and graduated in five years with a bachelor’s degree in political science and criminal justice in 1998.

During an internship, Wolf said he bumped into a woman who asked what he wanted to do with his life.

“I said, ‘Well, ma’am, I just want to serve my country. I’d like to one day be an FBI agent,” he recalled.

The woman handed him a business card and asked him to come see her, Wolf recalled. Wolf said he went to the FBI building for recruitment and met the woman, who told him he was too young for an FBI special agent job. Instead, Wolf said, the woman offered him another opportunity.

“It’s a classified job. It’s a covert job,” she said, according to Wolf. “Fill out the application and get back to me.”

Later, Wolf was hired at the FBI as an investigative specialist. Wolf said he joined in March 1999 and left in July 2003.

His campaign website says he “worked for years within the National Security Division on the highest priority terrorism, intelligence, and international security matters.”

A 2017 news story on the now-defunct DNAinfo.com site quoted Wolf after a public safety meeting with Ald. Scott Waguespack and police, where hundreds of residents turned out to discuss crime concerns.

"As a former FBI Agent, I am confident and clear in saying that the police are underfunded and crime is out of control in Chicago,” the story quoted Wolf saying. “Meanwhile the aldermen continue to politic and squabble."

Wolf’s campaign shared the story on Facebook and highlighted Wolf’s “FBI agent” boast.

Wolf blamed the press release on a staffer and said the DNAinfo story misquoted him, but it wasn’t important enough to correct.

Wolf said he shared the story with the quote on Facebook because “it’s a great article.” Asked whether he was concerned about the supposed inaccuracy, he said, “I don’t care.”

“It’s not a big enough deal,” Wolf said.

Diplomat

When Wolf failed the FBI agent test, he said it was “crushing” to know he wanted to do something but couldn’t. He was applying for other opportunities with the federal government and then heard from the State Department.

“I was going to go back and do it again, I would’ve crushed it, but the State Department called,” Wolf said.

Wolf worked for the State Department as a special agent in diplomatic security as a foreign service specialist for more than a decade, the department confirmed.

Wolf said that State Department job is “the same job” as being an FBI agent.

“I carried a badge and a gun and I was a special agent for the United States government. The FBI, they’re specially appointed agents for the Justice Department. I just happened to be with the State Department. It’s the same job,” Wolf said.

Wolf showed the Tribune a variety of commendations and plaques in his office marking his service at the State Department. One award notes he helped evacuate Peace Corps personnel from Guinea. Another document shows he was part of a team that helped ensure former Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice’s safety on a trip to Alabama after Hurricane Katrina.

He was also recognized for helping provide anti-terrorism training in Iraq, according to a memo. Wolf showed the Tribune documents stating his job also took him to Algeria, Senegal and Miami.

“I fell in love with that job,” Wolf said.

Wolf’s campaign website says, “He actively and loyally served four Secretaries of State and advised dozens of U.S. ambassadors.”

Looking back, Wolf said the experience helped make him a pacifist and humanitarian. “I speak out pretty loudly against warfare now,” Wolf said.

Wolf said he resigned to pursue a doctorate in Chicago.

‘Multiple tours’

On Veterans Day in November, Quigley’s official Twitter account tweeted about immigrants serving in the military and thanked veterans for their service.

Wolf’s official Twitter accounted responded, “Wolf served multiple tours in africa and iraq. Wolf for congress.”

In June, Wolf’s campaign posted a chart on Facebook contrasting Wolf’s policy positions and life experiences with Quigley’s.

In one row, the chart says Quigley “has never served in military or overseas.” On the same line, Wolf’s says, “Served in Iraq and Africa multiple times.”

Asked whether his campaign literature implies Wolf served in the armed forces, Wolf said no.

“The Department of Defense and the veterans community does not have a patent on the word ‘service,’ ” Wolf said. “They cannot copyright the term ‘service.’ ”

In a statement, Quigley campaign spokesman Thomas Bowen said, "Ben Wolf has made numerous claims about his background and experience that are simply untrue. His lies about his biography are a disservice to all those who have served honorably and raise serious questions about whether voters can trust a word he says."

In May, Veterans Affairs worker Timothy Lawson publicly accused Wolf’s campaign of “fabricating” a glowing recommendation on Wolf’s campaign website. Lawson told the Tribune he wasn’t interested in commenting on the matter but called it a “misunderstanding.”

Wolf told the Tribune he wanted to publish a letter from Lawson that would serve as a testimonial. He wrote the letter for Lawson but never got his approval and published it on his site anyway.

“It’s my fault 100 percent,” Wolf said.

“Listen, I am not a perfect person.”

In another endorsement on Wolf’s campaign website, George Washington University professor James Bailey said Wolf “may just be the new JFK.”

Bailey confirmed the comment to the Tribune and said he’s known Wolf for about eight years. They met at a playground with their children and developed what Bailey said was a “standard friendship” where they would drink, work out or watch baseball.

“The most politics we ever engaged in was second-guessing managerial calls,” Bailey said.

Bailey said the basis for comparing Wolf to John F. Kennedy is that Wolf speaks articulately about the obligation of citizens to participate in democracy.